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What are the benefits of NEBOSH & IOSH accreditation?

cleaningThe commercial cleaning sector offers your business a wide variety of options for all of your maintenance and cleaning needs, so rooting out the best choice from the crowd can be a difficult process. Many will provide great deals on regularly scheduled contract cleans, or graffiti removal or janitorial supplies, so how else can you distinguish between them?

One way is to examine each company’s accreditations. Achieving industry standard recognition for working practices is an essential indicator of reliability, and the scale and number of these qualifications is a good way to measure a cleaning business’s quality.

Acknowledgement by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and the much-lauded National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) certification are some of the strongest qualifications a company can have, providing quality assurance for all customers.

Here’s a quick guide to NEBOSH qualifications and IOSH recognition, and how they can be of benefit to all commercial cleaning companies…

NEBOSH logoNEBOSH:

(image source: http://www.nebosh.org.uk/)

The National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) was formed in 1979, and is an independent awarding body offering a wide range of health and safety training courses and certifications to companies and individuals throughout the world. The board is also a registered charity, and holds exams for 35,000 candidates in over 100 countries annually across the globe.

In the early 1970s, the government introduced stricter regulations and codes of practice regarding health and safety in the workplace, and NEBOSH was initiated to provide vocational qualifications in the field. Its main aim, according to founder and Chairman Professor Richard Booth, is “to improve the quality and quantity of people with vocational qualifications in occupational safety and health”; something that it works hard to maintain today.

Ensuring that your employees have a full understanding of correct operational practices in high risk working environments is crucial to workplace safety, as well as reducing any costs that may be incurred through incidents involving negligent or irresponsible behaviour. The course covers all necessary areas of risk assessment, and there are several elements of the NEBOSH course that applies to safe working practices in the commercial cleaning sector, including workplace hazards and control, musculoskeletal hazards and control, fire safety and biological & chemical hazards and control (COSHH).

Accreditation is gained through an intensive course followed by two exams and a practical assessment, designed to thoroughly evaluate and award each individual’s health and safety knowledge. NEBOSH also provides designated training for health and safety officers within companies and organisations, and can be the ideal first step towards a career in the sector.

IOSH logoIOSH:

(image source: http://www.iosh.co.uk/)

Established in 1945, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is an independent organisation set up to grant chartered status to health and safety professionals who meet all required regulations and standards.

The institution offers a range of training courses focusing on workplace safety, and carries out charity work worldwide, running campaigns and raising awareness for this important cause. As a registered charity since 1962, IOSH were awarded the Royal Charter in 2002 and remain the first European safety body to be granted NGO status by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

IOSH provide all of its high profile members, including NEBOSH, with approval and accreditation of their various health and safety related qualifications. In fact, IOSH and NEBOSH were initially very closely linked, as the latter took residence in the offices of the former upon its formation, with formal separation and distinction of the two occurring in the early 1990s.

Wheelcourt Cleaning Services logoWheelcourt Cleaning Services:

(image source:  http://www.wheelcourt.co.uk/)

Here at Wheelcourt Cleaning Services, all of our quality commercial cleans are fully accredited by a number of high profile organisations, including the Contractor’s Health and Safety Scheme (CHAS) and the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc), ensuring a high standard throughout all of our services. All of the accreditations we hold are recognised by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, making us the number one choice for all builders’ cleans, kitchen cleans, industrial cleans, jet washing, graffiti removal, floor cleans and window cleans.

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